Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Perfectly Acceptable Legal Solution – Better Than Good Enough

When faced with a legal question, the immediate problem is the difficulty in knowing which specific course of action is the right course. Many consumers tackle this by educating themselves. For example, a divorcing couple is almost always faced with multiple decisions that may affect the rest of their lives, and the lives of their children.

Hiring an attorney could be a possibility. But, for many consumers, the costs are so high, that hiring an attorney cannot even be considered. Pro bono legal help is nearly non-existent. Legal aid resources are spread so thin that many who qualify are turned away. Like it or not, many consumers have no other choice, but to go pro se.

Information about divorce and family law is readily available online through the wonders of the internet. But – there is so much information now, the next problem is that consumers must sort through the zillions of web pages that come up. Information overload in the information age.

The Florida Supreme Court and the Florida Bar graciously create and publish cookie cutter forms for family law matters. Sadly, (or not so sadly for legal document preparers), the cookie cutter forms and their accompanying instructions are confusing for many pro se litigants. They are written so that a reading level above high school level is needed to comprehend them. The difficulty of understanding the forms and instructions; the unfamiliar subject matter; the stress of divorce; and the importance of the matters at hand create multiple hurdles for the average pro se. The more mentally agile and motivated consumers become adept at leaping through the flaming legal hoops to reach their personal family legal goals – divorce, child custody, family adoption, property settlement, child support, and so on.

Enter the Florida legal document preparer. The Florida Bar would prefer we call ourselves – non lawyers. I rather like the term – Unlawyer – but it hasn't quite caught on yet. Legal self help, pure legal DIY, and the use of legal document preparers is often referred to “in the literature” as “good enough” legal services. I would like to change that term. I think the “good enough” term is damning with faint praise, a backhanded compliment. I prefer the term – perfectly acceptable legal services. As in – documents prepared by legal document preparers are perfectly acceptable. Or this standard form is perfectly acceptable. Now doesn't that sound better than “good enough”? Wouldn't a consumer be happier to purchase perfectly acceptable legal services than good enough legal services?

According to a recent article by Michael DeBord on Southern California Public Radio, www.scpr.org - “LegalZoom IPO: Be afraid, lawyers! Be very afraid!”
“The legal professional is being totally re-arranged by the economic downturn. Law firms have imploded. Law school grads — who used to be able to bank on fat salaries in exchange for 100-hour work weeks at big firms, if they attended top programs ... — are struggling to find jobs. Law is no longer the often-boring but generally reliably lucrative escape hatch it once was for decades of career-confused liberal arts majors.”

LegalZoom announced that it will be going public soon. According to reports, in 2011 490,000 orders were placed through their website; over two million customers have been served over the past decade; and their revenue in 2011 was $156 million. In addition to their legal document services LegalZoom now offers attorney legal services by subscription.

The benefit for consumers and for legal document preparers everywhere is that LegalZoom's high media profile brings credibility and legitimacy to the legal document preparation industry. They are successfully paving the way for other online document preparation providers to market their services more aggressively. And there is plenty of room for plenty of players, niche businesses, and support companies.

With legal fees averaging $200. per hour, consumers increasingly welcome legal document preparers services as – perfectly acceptable. Much better than good enough.

2 comments:

  1. Great piece!!

    The reason attorney fees are so high and the frequency of lawyer malpractice and misconduct are so much higher is the trade protectionist activities and monopolistic control allowed the "Lawyer Industry" by the Florida State Legislature in homage to the Florida Bar Association.

    The FLORIDA BAR, a private, non-governmental entity, has been attacking non-lawyer services FOR YEARS. Using the "unauthorized practice of law" statute, which has been CRIMINALIZED to the extent that it can be a FELONY for non-lawyers to help legal consumers, the Florida Bar uses TAXPAYER RESOURCES to go after legal document preparation services and other non-lawyer alternatives. So not only are Floridians forced to pay HIGHER LEGAL FEES, but their taxes are being used to PROTECT the Lawyer Industry and their higher fees!!

    Even worse than that, because the Lawyer Industry is SELF-REGULATING and is NOT being regulated by the Florida state regulatory division, like other professions such as real estate broker, building contractor, and even hair dressers, when the legal services consumer suffers misconduct, over-billing, theft of retainers, fraud, and other malfeasance perpetrated by some lawyers, they have to file a complaint with the "fox guarding the hen house" .... the Florida Bar!! HUH???

    Folks ... if you are reading this, LEND YOUR SUPPORT to all non-lawyer alternatives. This is America and we believe in REAL COMPETITION for all trades of business to keep service providers honest and affordable. And lawyers need ALL THE COMPETITION POSSIBLE!!

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  2. I strongly AGREE with you. Non-Lawyers...or what I would call...Lawyer Substitutes, are Vital in this Nation. With so many People with limited incomes that NEVER go up, it is out of the question to EVER hire a Lawyer. Its impossible. We badly need help with legal paperwork and answers to just few questions. You have the RIGHT to be exist and be available to the Public. Lawyers can try....but they will never win in stopping you. Keep fighting for your rights and the rights of all Americans, and especially the Americans who have watched America go from a "Leave it to Beaver" Nation to a Nation full of GREED, DISHONESTY, and SELF-CENTEREDNESS. Thank you, K.C.

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Thanks for your comment!